For DeMar DeRozan, the text messages came pouring in. In the NBA, 50 is a magical number, the delineation between a dominant night and an unforgettable one. There are some exceptions, but it is exceedingly difficult to fluke your way to 50 points. There is getting hot for a quarter, and there is staying locked in for an entire game. (In this sense, it feels right that Charlie Villanueva’s Raptors high was 48 points.)

DeRozan put up the first 50-plus point game of his career on Monday, an electric 52-point performance in an overtime win over Milwaukee. He joined just two players, Vince Carter and DeRozan’s old teammate, Terrence Ross, as the only men to ever break the 50-point threshold for the franchise. Carter did it twice — once in the regular season, once in the playoffs.

“I had a message from (Ross) before I could even (message) him,” DeRozan said on Tuesday. “He basically said, 'About time.' He said, 'It took long...

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